


Mechanical Winds

by InkfaceFahz



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Mentioned, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Other, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23148805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkfaceFahz/pseuds/InkfaceFahz
Summary: Nobody wants to be there to be steamrolled by the real protagonists of the story.Moniwa knows he wants to be there as the crushed cornerstone if it builds up his juniors in the end. He knows they need to be built up.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	Mechanical Winds

**白鳥沢学園 伊達工業高校**

**2 0**

**25 : 23**

**25 : 15**

~~**2011-09-26伊達工業高校** ~~

The quantifiable proof of failure was the only image he could let linger, glowing in LEDs, in his head on the bus back. 

Moniwa didn’t mean to throw the equipment bag as hard as he had. It didn’t break anything, just slamming against and sliding across the table as the full September moon filtered through the dimmed room. And he was grateful the coach hadn’t been there. But if the coach wasn’t there, then that meant it was his responsibility to do anything but things like this. He then glanced back at the team assembled behind him in the entrance to the club room.

What kind of luck was that, to end up in a seed against the previous prefectural qualifier winning team, the kind of school that could spend however much it wanted on club funding, the kind where if you weren’t exceptional, and you attended there, your parents were. The private school’s captain seemed like a decent person, observant enough to see Moniwa still was struggling with leadership, and was neither condescending nor pitying when they shook hands on the conclusion of the match -- the band of powerful players in the same year as him, on the other hand, intimidating him even those who weren’t trying to. None of their gazes lingered on him in disdain -- more that they didn’t linger on him at all, a player the same age as them, a captain when they were not --

This bout of self absorption immediately drained when he thought that. They were the better team. He had to beg for funding unbeknowst to his teammates, the third year manager and her tough 1st year apprentice the only ones aware of this groveling. The team with the color of royalty would go on to be famous. Luck would control whether some of his teammates still had their trade when the offsite training programs, from farms to construction to nursing, were disrupted six months prior. Everyone he knew thought differently now, in some way. 

He'd burned his first conversation with his club kouhai into his brain like he'd scorched it with a soldering iron through the septum.

_“You aren’t in general studies, but construction? That’s a quick choice. You just moved to this area, right, along with Kenji-kun, right?”_

_A nod._

_“When?”_

_“-- March,” the severity shifted to a solemn softness, and Moniwa hated himself for not thinking. Of course. He had to do better than this. Be sensitive. Be gentle. Be firm. Be aware of who you are to others. Let them build on you. For you, that's enough._

He gritted his teeth. Unavoidable fractures bleeding anger out without him noticing, when he knew he had to put the work in instead. Fill the holes.

He turned to the team, most of them still looking somewhat surprised at the sudden outburst after he’d had trouble with the clubroom keys after returning from the city gymnasium and seemed to crack, and he bowed to the remaining third year libero and the senior manager, apologizing for his impulsive action, one of the first of many actions to lay down a brick, fill in with mortar, and put himself back together. Be constructive. Not destructive. He owed that much.


End file.
